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<div class="section boost_icl_semantics_maps" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="boost_icl.semantics.maps"></a><a class="link" href="maps.html" title="Maps">Maps</a>
</h3></div></div></div>
<p>
        By definition a map is set of pairs. So we would expect maps to obey the
        same laws that are valid for sets. Yet the semantics of the <span class="bold"><strong>icl's</strong></span>
        maps may be a different one, because of it's aggregating facilities, where
        the aggregating combiner operations are passed to combine the map's associated
        values. It turns out, that the aggregation on overlap principle induces semantic
        properties to icl maps in such a way, that the set of equations that are
        valid will depend on the semantics of the type <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">CodomainT</span></code>
        of the map's associated values.
      </p>
<p>
        This is less magical as it might seem at first glance. If, for instance,
        we instantiate an <code class="computeroutput"><a class="link" href="../../boost/icl/interval_map.html" title="Class template interval_map">interval_map</a></code>
        to collect and concatenate <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">strings</span></code>
        associated to intervals,
      </p>
<p>
        
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="identifier">interval_map</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">,</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span><span class="special">&gt;</span> <span class="identifier">cat_map</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">cat_map</span> <span class="special">+=</span> <span class="identifier">make_pair</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">interval</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">rightopen</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="number">1</span><span class="special">,</span><span class="number">5</span><span class="special">),</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="string">"Hello"</span><span class="special">));</span>
<span class="identifier">cat_map</span> <span class="special">+=</span> <span class="identifier">make_pair</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">interval</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">rightopen</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="number">3</span><span class="special">,</span><span class="number">7</span><span class="special">),</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="string">" World"</span><span class="special">));</span>
<span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">"cat_map: "</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">cat_map</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
</pre>
<p>
      </p>
<p>
        we won't be able to apply <code class="computeroutput"><span class="keyword">operator</span>
        <span class="special">-=</span></code> 
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="comment">// This will not compile because string::operator -= is missing.
</span><span class="identifier">cat_map</span> <span class="special">-=</span> <span class="identifier">make_pair</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">interval</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">rightopen</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="number">3</span><span class="special">,</span><span class="number">7</span><span class="special">),</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="string">" World"</span><span class="special">));</span>
</pre>
<p>
        because, as std::sting does not implement <code class="computeroutput"><span class="special">-=</span></code>
        itself, this won't compile. So all <span class="bold"><strong>laws</strong></span>,
        that rely on <code class="computeroutput"><span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="special">-=</span></code>
        or <code class="computeroutput"><span class="special">-</span></code> not only will not be valid
        they can not even be stated. This reduces the set of laws that can be valid
        for a richer <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">CodomainT</span></code> type
        to a smaller set of laws and thus to a less restricted semantics.
      </p>
<p>
        Currently we have investigated and validated two major instantiations of
        icl::Maps,
      </p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li>
<span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Maps of Sets</strong></span></em></span> that
          will be called <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Collectors</strong></span></em></span>
          and
        </li>
<li>
<span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Maps of Numbers</strong></span></em></span> which
          will be called <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Quantifiers</strong></span></em></span>
</li>
</ul></div>
<p>
        both of which seem to have many interesting use cases for practical applications.
        The semantics associated with the term <span class="emphasis"><em>Numbers</em></span> is a
        <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoid" target="_top">commutative monoid</a>
        for unsigned numbers and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abelian_group" target="_top">commutative
        or abelian group</a> for signed numbers. From a practical point of view
        we can think of numbers as counting or quantifying the key values of the
        map.
      </p>
<p>
        Icl <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Maps of Sets</strong></span></em></span> or
        <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Collectors</strong></span></em></span> are models
        of concept <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">Set</span></code>. This implies
        that all laws that have been stated as a semantics for <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">icl</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">Sets</span></code>
        in the previous chapter also hold for <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">Maps</span>
        <span class="identifier">of</span> <span class="identifier">Sets</span></code>.
        Icl <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Maps of Numbers</strong></span></em></span>
        or <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Quantifiers</strong></span></em></span> on the
        contrary are not models of concept <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">Set</span></code>.
        But there is a substantial intersection of laws that apply both for <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">Collectors</span></code> and <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">Quantifiers</span></code>.
      </p>
<div class="informaltable"><table class="table">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead><tr>
<th>
              <p>
                Kind of Map
              </p>
              </th>
<th>
              <p>
                Alias
              </p>
              </th>
<th>
              <p>
                Behavior
              </p>
              </th>
</tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
              <p>
                Maps of Sets
              </p>
              </td>
<td>
              <p>
                Collector
              </p>
              </td>
<td>
              <p>
                Collects items <span class="bold"><strong>for</strong></span> key values
              </p>
              </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
              <p>
                Maps of Numbers
              </p>
              </td>
<td>
              <p>
                Quantifier
              </p>
              </td>
<td>
              <p>
                Counts or quantifies <span class="bold"><strong>the</strong></span> key values
              </p>
              </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
<p>
        In the next two sections the law based semantics of <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Collectors</strong></span></em></span>
        and <span class="emphasis"><em><span class="bold"><strong>Quantifiers</strong></span></em></span> will
        be described in more detail.
      </p>
</div>
<table xmlns:rev="http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~gregod/boost/tools/doc/revision" width="100%"><tr>
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<td align="right"><div class="copyright-footer">Copyright &#169; 2007 -2010 Joachim Faulhaber<br>Copyright &#169; 1999 -2006 Cortex Software GmbH<p>
        Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
        file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
      </p>
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